On the Brazilian “beer wars” and the astonishing crudity of Brazilian beer advertising and beer-themed infotainment — I am a career keg-swilling ass-ogler myself, mind you (they say there is a dossier out there somewhere, confirming this), but in front of the children? — see also

The federal government’s initiative in requesting fast-track treatment for Bill 2,733/08, and its eventual approval in the next few weeks would close a curious definitional loophole in the law. Approved in 1996, Law 9,924 would be amended to define what and what is not considered an alcoholic beverage for the purposes of regulating advertising. At the time, the so-called 13-degree Gay Lussac scale was used, which exempted beer, wine and “ice” drinks from the ban on advertising that distilled beverages were obliged to respect between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.

In November 2005, the national public health agency (Anvisa) held a public consultation on a proposal to regulate advertising of alcoholic beverages, based on Law 9,294/96 and the Brazilian Code of Advertising Self-Regulation. PL 2,733 is meant to change that history. The text produced by the Ministry of Health and the National Anti-Drugs Secretary reduce the cutoff point for “alcoholic beverages” to 0.5 degrees on the Gay Lussac scale. Beer, wine and “ices” would therefore be deemed alcoholic beverages for legal purposes. The irony in this case is unavoidable, but the sectors involved have endless interpretations and disagreements about the measure, which, after all, means to put limits on advertising — a R$30 billion-a-year industry.

A long-term financing arrangement where a company sells all or some of its accounts receivable to a financial intermediary known as a factor. The factor may also take responsibility for collecting on and managing the receivables.

The Senate judiciary committee voted to approve an opinion favorable to Bill 13/2007, which regulates firms engaged in the practice known as factoring. This sector currently operates on the basis of administrative rules. The bill, already approved by the lower house, must now be considered by the economic affairs committee. It was first introduced in Congress in 2000.

The principal point of the bill is to differentiate factoring firms from banking institutions. In the factoring business, which works primarily with small and medium-size businesses, fundraising and loan offers are considered crimes. “Factoring is [covered by the commercial code.] It is therefore very important to make it clear that a factor is not a bank,” says Luiz Lemo Leito, president of the National Association of [Factoring Firms].

The best-known type of factoring transaction is the purchase of credits generated by installment-plan sales, and enables the business to receive sums that it would otherwise only receive in the future. However, because the activity is not regulated, many factors wind up making loans with interest without authorization from the Centra Bank. With this bill, that conduct would be defined as a crime.

Lemos Leite says factoring is not underdeveloped in Brazil just because it lacks a legal framework. “There are a lot of scoundrels out there who register with the [corporations registry], put up a sign saying ‘factoring’ on the door, but do something else,” Lemos Leite, a former Central Bank director, says. ANFAC has 700 affiliates with some 135,000 clients. Factoring brought in estimated revenues of R$70 billion in 2007.

[His term of office] ended Friday and he opted not to renew it. Reason: The invitation to continue in the post was made conditional on no longer writing the daily critique published on the Internet. Magalhães did not agree and will return to working as a special correspondent in Rio.

“I consider (doing away with the daily critique of the newspaper on the Web) a step backwards in the transparency of the newspaper and the role of the ombudsman. I did not agree to the condition, there was an impasse, so I left the post,” he told Comunique-se on Saturday.